MED 500 Creative Persuasion
Faculty: Dr. Robert H. Frantz (Profile)
ABOUT THE COURSE
The world is full of arguments these days, and many persuasion techniques, such as provoking cognitive dissonance, are overused and ineffective. Because everyone has online access to the full spectrum of information for and against every subject every day, everyone is empowered to be an expert on everything. Credentials, titles, years of experience carry little weight in an argument now, which presents a uniquely modern challenge to fields of endeavor which rely upon persuasion. This course aims to equip pastors, mediators, counselors, therapists, attorneys, parents, managers, teachers, healthcare practitioners and “regular people” with tools to recognize basic strategies of an argument, to avoid traps set by others in heated exchanges, and to break out of the ordinary pattern of back-and-forth contradiction. Students will learn several processes to explore new ways of looking at old disagreements to find new resolution options.